Roderick Covlin was sentenced to life behind bars for the 2009 murder of his wife, who was found dead in her bathtub.
A man who strangled his wife to death the day before she planned to cut him out of her will has been sentenced to 25 years to life behind bars.
Last month, Roderick Covlin, 46, was found guilty of murdering his wealthy wife, Shele Danishefsky Covlin, who was found dead in the bathtub of her luxury Manhattan apartment on New Year's Eve 2009. On Wednesday, he was sentenced.
Prosecutors say Covlin, who lived in the same apartment building, entered his estranged wife's home, beat and strangled her and put her body in the bathtub to make her death look like an accident so he could inherit her $5 million estate.
He succeeded in fooling the authorities for years until family pressure led to her body being exhumed.
The day before her murder, Shele Covlin had a keratin hair treatment to smooth out her hair. After the treatment, you are not supposed to have wet hair for three days, raising the question as to why she was in the bathtub.
During his sentencing, the only emotion the killer showed was when his mother read a statement from his teenage daughter, who defended her father.
"My mom slipped hit her head, fell unconscious and drowned, just like the Medical Examiner said when he found her," she wrote.
Colvin's 12-year-old son also asked the judge for a light sentence.
"Please give him a light sentence so I have him back in my life," the boy said. "I love him so much."
Covlin was led out of court in handcuffs Tuesday as his wife's family celebrated the final chapter of a 10-year saga.
"The Danishefsky family never gave up, and neither did we,” District Attorney Cy Vance said after the trial. “Roderick Covlin will now spend decades in prison for his domestic violence, depravity and deception, but family and intimate partner violence continues on in apartments across New York City."
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